All Chapters of Plaything in one's palm: Chapter 11 - Chapter 13

They returned to the New York penthouse. The tropical sun and the turquoise sea felt like a distant dream, replaced once more by the steel-and-glass reality of Lynn's gilded cage. The awkward intimacy of the sickroom on the island had not traveled back with them. Caius retreated behind his impenetrable CEO facade, colder and more distant than before, as if trying to erase the memory of his own brief moment of vulnerability. Lynn, for his part, clung to his silence and his art, the shame of his unconscious nuzzle still a fresh wound. The dark, chaotic paintings continued to pile up in his studio.Life settled back into the oppressive routine, but a subtle shift had occurred. Lynn found himself watching Caius more closely, not just with hatred, but with a nagging, unwelcome curiosity. The image of Caius's trembling hands and fear-stricken face on the dock was seared into his memory, a stark contradiction to the man who had called him "Lucas."A few weeks after their return, Lynn was in